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March 15, 2025

OPM resurrects Schedule F stripping protections from career workforce

Federal News Network
CBS News
CBS News
Reuters

Schedule F enables mass firings as loyalty replaces merit in government

President Trump reinstated Schedule F in the Excepted Service, creating a new category for policy-related civil servant positions that removes their competitive-service protections (CBS News Schedule F).

Over 1 million federal employees lost collective bargaining rights under Trump’s executive orders (Federal News Network).

Beginning in Feb. 2025, the administration carried out mass terminations of thousands of probationary federal employees—termination letters initially cited “performance” reasons before court orders disclosed a “government-wide mass termination” (Federal News Network).

📋Public Policy📜Constitutional Law🏛️Government

Test Your Knowledge

10
Q1

What happened to health insurance for some recently fired Commerce Department employees?

Q2

What new training program is the Space Force launching for acquisition personnel?

Q3

What significant spike occurred in May 2025 related to federal employment?

Q4

What complaint volume did the Office of Special Counsel receive about probationary employee terminations?

Q5

How many employees were laid off at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory due to funding cuts?

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What you can do

1

If you are a probationary federal employee who was terminated for “performance reasons,” verify whether you’ve received the court-mandated corrective notice by Apr. 18. If not, file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel at https://osc.gov, citing the Apr. 18 deadline and the mass-termination order (Federal News Network).

2

If you work at the State Department, USAID, or OPM and rely on collective bargaining, confirm whether the D.C. federal court’s preliminary injunction applies to you by reviewing the public docket at https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov and locating the injunction documents (Federal News Network).

3

To examine the executive order initiating the elimination of the Department of Education and the transfer of its functions, visit the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov, search for the Mar. 2025 “Executive Order on Department of Education elimination,” and review the notices on staff cuts and function transfers (CBS News).